Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 29 JULY 22, 2014 P89 team never gave up hope that he could win this season, in spite of just barely being ranked inside the top 10 in the standings and only coming close to the podium once this season. DiSalvo said a new tire from Dunlop made all the difference. "I felt like I could race hard the entire way," he said afterwards. With the newfound confidence the tires gave him DiSalvo turned in the most unlikely DSB win of the season in Mid-Ohio's race two. It was a remarkable victory, the first in two years for DiSalvo, and one that came in a 2014 cam- paign where up to that point he'd finished no better than fourth. DiSalvo moved his Castrol Tri- umph Daytona 675 past Gagne with five laps to go and then withstood the pressure by the Red Bull-backed rider the rest of the way to earn his first Daytona SportBike victory since Sonoma Raceway in 2012. Gerloff round- ed out the podium finishers on his Yamaha Extended Service/ Monster Energy Yamaha R6. "It's such cool deal to get these guys a win," DiSalvo said of his Triumph team. "We've been developing this bike for so long. I rode my heart out. The new Dun- lops were awesome. I felt like I could go hard the whole race. We knew the Triumph 675 was a special bike and today we got a chance to showcase it." Gagne credited DiSalvo with a great ride. "We definitely wanted to get that win," said Gagne, who took back the championship lead. "But Jason was hauling out there. I'm happy to finish the race sec- ond and we'll give it another shot at the next race." The race was red flagged. Gagne was leading the origi- nal start over DiSalvo and Lewis when Westby's went down fol- lowed by Eslick; and Jake Zemke also down in the same turn. At first it was thought that Westby's bike had blown, but his team worked on it and was able to get it back in the restart. It was later reported that a radiator hose on his bike had blown off. DOMINGUEZ SWEEPS, ALEXANDER STUMBLES It was a perfect weekend for Houston Superbikes Yamaha rider Dustin Dominguez. He swept both Supersport races at Mid-Ohio, making it three series wins in a row for the 24-year-old Oklahoman. The perfect weekend in Ohio pulled Dominguez to within two points of series leader Hayden Gillim, who was runner up in both races on his TOBC Racing Suzuki. Mid-Ohio was a disastrous weekend for series contender Corey Alexander. The rider from Carmel, New York, crashed his Celtic/HVMC Racing Suzuki five laps into race one on Sunday. Then his machine had some mechanical problem and he was unable to start race two. Alexander, who was tied for the series lead com- ing into Mid-Ohio, left with no points. That dropped him to fourth in the stand- ings and out of any real hope of winning the championship. "I give Hayden [Gillim] high marks," said Dominguez. "He pushed me really hard. I'd give him an 'A' for effort… I liked doing the two races in one day. It's a lot of riding and I love it." Gillim looked at the positives after coming away with two second-place finishes. "It's the first time I have been in the lead in the championship," Gillim said. "This time I am going to New Jersey with the lead." In race one Wyatt Farris return to the podium for the first time since Daytona. In the second race Conner Blevins earned his first AMA Pro SuperSport podium. The 19-year old Excel Racing Kawasaki rider beat top series pilots Kaleb De Keyrel, Farris and Jason Aguilar for the final spot on the podium. Dustin Dominguez (68) beat Hayden Gillim (69) to win the both of the Supersport races on Sunday. Bobby Fong (50) was eighth in race one, but rebounded to finish fifth in race two. Here he leads race-one podium finisher Danny Eslick (69), Blake Young (79) and Jake Zemke (98).

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